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Cuddly Quasimodo: Is This a Good Thing;It's All About Consumerism

It would be surprising if most readers did not wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Goldberger's indictment of Disney as pretending to "a level of profundity while corrupting the very aspects of high culture it claims kinship with." But he overlooks a key issue. Disney is in the business of creating consumer products. Its executives are quite properly guided by free-market principles: make as much money as possible by reaching as many customers as possible. If a cuddly Quasimodo surrounded by singing gargoyles can earn as much as "Aladdin" or "The Lion King," Disney would be acting irresponsibly if it were deterred by thoughts of "high culture, with its tradition of complexity and ambiguity."

Whether what's good for Disney is also good for the country and its "high culture" is another matter.